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When we visit the hospital with our sick children and walk away happy with medicine, we hope for the best. After all, we have seen the best doctor we know of, and the medicine has been prescribed. Our part as parents then is to administer the syrups prescribed for the period the doctor advised.
It has been observed that, when it comes to administering prescribed medicine, parents often times adhere well to the recommendations. Most parents try to give the medicine for the five or seven days the doctor prescribed.
It has, however, also been observed that some parents and caregivers fail to give correct measurements of syrups as prescribed. In a study, a dosing error was made by 41.1 per cent of the parents; 81.4 per cent of which were under-dosing errors.
The old practice of using a spoon to measure the right amount of syrup has been improved by use of dispensing cups that are included in most syrup packaging. These cups are calibrated often with measures of 2.5ml, 5.0ml, 7.5mls and 10mls. Sometimes parents may have to give an initial 10ml then 5mls for a child whose prescription is 15mls. There is concern that some don't measure the medicine correctly, resulting in under-dose or overdose of medications.
Some parents don't wash the dispensing cup after giving the medicine, and when they use it next time, it is dirty or contaminated and sticky from previous syrup dose. Wash the cup with clean water (preferably warm) then dry it and store it hygienically.
A recent study determined that the use of advanced counselling (asking the parent to repeat medication information to the pharmacist or using graphical teaching aids for dosage) or provision of a standardized dosing instrument (such as a syringe or measuring cup) were associated with improved ability to appropriately measure a standard dose of a medication.
Teach your house help or anyone else involved in giving medicine to the child on correct measurements. When receiving medicine from the hospital, clinic or pharmacy, try to repeat the instructions back to the person dispensing it to make sure you have understood them correctly.
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